No legitimate, state licensed talent agency ever charges any up-front or mandatory fees to models or actors. Real talent agencies do not charge any fees for representation.

Agencies can charge the following however: Optional marketing materials, web pages etc for an optional fee which cannot be mandatory for representation rights.

Cost of reproducing materials for the model, the cost of any advances paid out to the model or advances for the models marketing materials (comp cards, web pages, etc). These charges must be approved in advance by the model or actor. It is not mandatory that the actor/model purchase composite cards or webpages in order to be represented by the agency.

Real Model Agencies are not affiliated with any escort or other adult services.

Model Agencies are not temporary employment agencies but they do often find models assignments that are temporary in nature.

Real model agencies do not accept any form of payment for referrals to photographers, trainers, schools or other industry vendors. Real Model Agencies do not offer paid classes or trainings. Real Model Agencies are solely in the business of procuring work for models, talent, photographers, make up artists, and stylists.

Full Service vs. Boutique Agencies

Some agencies focus on only one area of modeling. These agencies are often called ’boutiques.’ Other agencies focus on only high-end stars or celebrities, these also are referred to as boutique agencies. Some agencies only focus on actors and refer to themselves only as ‘talent agencies.’ Other agencies focus only on models and thus refer to themselves only as ‘model agencies.’ Full Service agencies have multiple departments that handle every aspect of both the talent and modeling fields. They are no better or worse than boutique agencies, simply focusing on a higher volume of work. One advantage of full-service agencies is that they may provide work for one model/talent in more than one department.

Modeling Markets:

The following are the major markets for modeling agencies, however the bulk of the modeling work goes to agencies in New York, Florida, Illinois and California: One reason for this is that these are areas in which there are a great many commercial enterprises. Another reason is that many advertising, marketing and pr firms as well as publishing houses are in these large metropolitan areas.

Phoenix

Los Angeles, L.A.

San Diego

San Jose

San Francisco

Denver

Tampa

Miami

Atlanta

Honolulu

Chicago

Minneapolis

St Louis

Las Vegas

Reno

NYC, New York City, N.Y.C., Manhattan,

Cincinnatti

Cleveland

Portland

Philadelphia

Nashville

Memphis

Houston

Dallas

Salt Lake City

Seattle

Milwaukee

The following are smaller markets and may have some local fashion, tradeshow and print work unique to their own cities. They will have more work in live events that use Spokesmodels, Promotional Models (also known as Promo Models):

A decision that talent buyers must often make is one of scope. ‘Do I go with a local agency in the local market or do I hire a model agency with models in every market. Each choice has its advantages and disadvantages. If a talent buyer hires locally they must deal with multiple agencies in one market. If the buyer uses one agency that works globally or nationally, they have the advantage of working with one entity which will make many of the micro-decisions needed, taking the submanagement out of the hands of the buyer, allowing the buyer to focus on tasks at hand.

Local Agencies abound in every market and can be found by a cursory internet search. National Agencies may be more difficult to find. Always seek out national agencies that are licensed in at least one state in the USA.